(c) September 2010 Oliver Bonten
Cheetah
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Date: Images: |
Cheetah
September 2010 12 |
Cheetahs are known to be extremely fast runners, but are not really intimidating predators (unless you are a gazelle). They are fast and beautiful, but that's all they are - they are neither particularly strong, nor clever, or otherwise resourceful. A one-trick-cat. Cheetahs are a bit like big pussycats with an appetite - they purr when you pet them (they can purr like cats), and they enjoy being petted. Rangers say they have a lousy memory and cannot tell different people apart, just remember that people are the species who pets them and gives them a couple kilos of meat a day. In the wild, cheetahs are hunted by farmers who believe (sometimes rightfully) that they are taking their livestock, and by leopards who steal their food: after an exhausting hunt, cheetahs are not strong enough to defend their kill. Leopards in turn are driven to this behaviour because they themselves are hunted by farmers, and find it increasingly difficult to hunt. So, cheetahs are now an endangered species and aid organisations are trying to save them. At Amani, one family of cheetahs has been hand-raised because they could not have been rehabilitated into the wild, but most cheetahs live in a rehabilitation center where they are slowly trained to live in the wild and care for themselves. They are fed until they are able to fend for themselves
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